Friday, 22 September 2017

FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe’s first born son, Russell Goreraza
(33), and his business partner Valentine Gaucho imported seven top-of-the-range
vehicles worth about US$2,5 million after brokering a controversial mining deal
between government and a Kazakhstan company, Todal Mining, which owns platinum
concessions between Shurugwi and Zvishavane, the Zimbabwe Independent can
reveal.

This comes against a backdrop of reports that Goreraza this
week took ownership of two Rolls Royce limousines — one for Gaucho and the
other for himself — after receiving two 2017 Range Rovers and two Mercedes-Benz
S-Class sedan cars. A top-of-the-range Aston Martin is on its way.

Informed sources said the Aston Martin — made by British
manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers — will be taken by Gaucho,
who already drives a Porsche Cayenne, Rolls Royce, BMW X5 new model and a
Mercedes-Benz AMG S65 Coupe.

Goreraza has in his carport two Range Rovers, a
Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the new Rolls Royce. The two youthful businessmen and
dealers have cars which even local chief executives of big companies cannot
afford.

Todal was once partly owned by Zanu PF benefactor Billy
Rautenbach through Lefever, a subsidiary of Central African Mining and Exploration
Company (Camec) in which his family had an interest. Camec was listed on the
London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s subsidiary market, Alternative Investment Market
from 2002-2009.

Camec and Rautenbach then sold Todal to a Kazakhstan
FTSE-listed mining consortium, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC),
in November 2009. ENRC paid US$945 million to Camec.

However, sources said government was not happy with
Rautenbach’s disposal of concessions to ENRC as it was done without ministerial
approval and thus not procedural or illegal. This prompted a crisis after the
deal was consummated at the LSE.

“Rautenbach was given the platinum concessions by
government to offset a debt. He then transferred the claims to Camec, which
partly owned Todal, as he also had an interest in those companies,” a source
said. “The claims were later sold by Camec on the LSE to the Kazakh company.
However, government was opposed to this as it was unlawful and bordered on
speculation. The indigenisation policy was also violated and relevant taxes
were also not paid. This prompted government to refuse to allow ENRC to mine
and this is where behind-the-scenes brokerage by Gaucho and Goreraza, working
with high profile and powerful networks, comes in.”

The Independent previously reported that during the March
2008 elections, Lefever Finance, a Rautenbach-linked enterprise, advanced
President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF a US$100 million loan for their ill-fated
campaign.

But government failed to repay the money and Rautenbach was
given platinum claims to offset the debt. This was after government had
repossessed 30% of the claims held by Anglo America.

Under pressure, Anglo American Platinum, the world’s top
platinum producer, ceded more than a quarter of its concessions in Zimbabwe to
the government.

In return, Anglo was granted empowerment credits and
foreign exchange indulgences that would allow it to develop a valuable
remaining concession.

Immediately after Anglo’s concession had been seized,
government awarded them to Todal, a joint venture between the state-owned
Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (40%) and Lefever Finance (60%).

Lefever was owned by the opaque Meryweather Investments,
registered in the British Virgin Islands. Although Meryweather’s ownership
remained a mystery, it was associated with Rautenbach.

Lefever was also partly owned by Camec, which had vast
mining interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe
and Mozambique. Through money from an American hedge-fund, Camec then advanced
Lefever a US$100 million in March 2008 to lend the Zimbabwe government.

After the loan Camec, now representing Lefever together
with ZMDC, received the platinum concessions.

In exchange for investing in Camec, Rautenbach got 13% in
Camec through Meryweather.

Prior to the Todal-Lefever deal, Rautenbach in 2007 had
sold two of his DRC companies to Camec via his family company, Harvest View
Ltd, which enabled him to gain 7,4% equity.

With a 20-year mine life, Todal was expected produce an
average of 150 000 tonnes of platinum ore per month, but it first required a
US$250 million investment to revive the plant.

The expensive vehicles, according to the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority sources, were imported and delivered without the payment of US$$1 126
650 duty.

“Duty is calculated at 87% (US$2,1 million), so they did
not pay duty for the vehicles even though they did not have exemption of duty
certificates,” a source said.

Investigations by the Independent show Goreraza and Gaucho
approached Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa, who is related to Mugabe and his
wife Grace, to help sign special mining rights for Todal to start working.

As a result, in May cabinet gave Todal approval to mine.

Chidhakwa confirmed at the time the company, jointly owned
by a Kazakh investor and the Kazakhstan government, purchased the concessions
from Camec through the LSE.

“There is a company that will be mining platinum very close
to Chachacha in Zvishavane. This is a platinum resource which was allocated to
a local company some time ago and the company went on to dispose of it on the
London Stock Exchange,” Chidhakwa was quoted as saying at the time.

“These new investors recently approached us claiming the
concession and indicated that they have since spent in excess of US$60 million
on the ground through sinking two shafts and other developments.

“Cabinet was very unhappy about the part that the
concession had actually been sold but it was agreed that they go on to mine.”

In an interview yesterday, Chidhakwa said he met the owner
of ENRC, Victor Hanna, when he came to introduce his company after acquiring
the claims.

“I met Victor Hanna who told me that he had acquired the
Todal shares from Camec,” Chidhakwa said. “I told him that the sale of the
shares was illegal because the previous owner did not have a ministerial
approval to dispose his share on the London Stock Exchange.

“I also told him that despite the fact that he had
commenced mining the whole process was not procedural because they had no
special grant requird. I then took the issue to cabinet where I explained the
investor’s position.

“Cabinet, however, approved that they should proceed with
their operations and we issued them with special grant.”

On being asked whether he met Gaucho and Goreraza or their
handlers who facilitated the deal, Chidhakwa said he only met the company
owners.

“Unless they met officials in my ministry, as for me I only
met the original company owner, Victor Hanna, who then came with his team later
on,” he said.

ENRC is linked to Hanna who has been under United Kingdom
investigation for serious fraud over his acquisition of copper and cobalt
mining projects in the DRC.

A government source said: “Gaucho and Goreraza were
involved in the deal and those cars were bought from money paid as facilitation
fees. The deal included high profile officials and clandestine networks.”

Efforts to get comment from Goreraza and Gaucho were
unsuccessful. Zimbabwe indpendent